This latest work centers on individuals pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this seems a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
The writer was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader attracted to polished prose of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
